Guinea pig gives birth to 4 pups from start to finish *Graphic Warning* for blood and mother nature.
Like 4 Dislike 0 Published on 17 Aug 2018
Video of my guinea pig "Susie" giving birth to 4 pups for her first time, at exactly 67 days (8-16-18). Video starts right before her water breaks which is the puddle, and ends after she's eaten the placenta. All 4 babies come rather quickly, and latter half of video is her cleaning up, which I left intact for posterity as most gp birth videos are short and end abruptly. Video is edited short about 15 seconds within, but otherwise is start to finish. Had issues with video editing software rejecting phone video, so quality was altered. Auto focus was being a pain as well, and couldn't stop to adjust as it'd have meant missing something, so my apologies it's not 4k native or something.
*Witnessing the birth is pure luck and timing. About the best warning birth is imminent, is when they enter head-first into a corner, cubby, box, pigloo, etc. and you see what she's doing at the start of the video. Mine paced into and out of the cubby several times (head first towards back cubby wall) following a "route" on an almost ritualistic routine around the cage where she'd eat, drink, lay for 30 seconds with head sideways on bedding, then back around the cage, repeat. About 48 hours before birth, she was going through almost an entire bottle of water in a 6-8 hour period, which was what she was going through in a day, previously vs. a 1/4 bottle non pregnant. The day of pregnancy, her spine was protruding "upwards" and was very visible while eating at her food bowl, while outer baby bulges had noticeably shifted in orientation. One of the babies was directly under her lower abdomen, VERY close to where the pelvic bones separate (be careful feeling for the pelvic bone late-term as you might be pressing on a baby; I felt a foot there one time and and could feel it grinding it's teeth in the direct vicinity).
The father's cage was a couple feet away and he was extra noisy for about 10 days leading up to birth. Right before she was entering birth (within minutes) boar had his nose UP in the air and was silently chattering his teeth which isn't something he does normally. During the entire birthing, he was dead-silent, which is probably instinctual as you wouldn't want to alert predators to the area. She gained side-belly bulges around week 3-4, and her pelvic bone separated earlier on in the pregnancy; meaning not all sows are the same and might be not be the greatest indicators with bigger litters.
*Ideally, you want to be on-hand during your guinea pig pregnancy to help in case something goes awry, or you need to take it to the vet, etc.. One example of something going wrong is:
Immediately after the first pup was born in the video, it stayed in a ball within the amniotic sac (thin clear film she pulls off ). And as witnessed in the video, the mom ignores baby while fervently trying to clean the matting instead. Once baby breaks free and makes a sound, mom is on it and nature takes it course. IF the baby isn't able to break the sac and/or mom is too slow to respond/pull it off, she's distracted, another baby comes out and she focuses on that one, etc., the neglected baby can suffocate. You come home though and see a full-sized baby (or babies in some cases) laying there, dead, and think it was still-born, lethal, etc.. Chances are, baby was too weak to break free and/or the sow cleaned it/pulled the sac off too late after it suffocated, hence it might appear as though it was a still-born.
DISCLAIMER: ANYTHING I'VE STATED IS MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FROM THIS PARTICULAR SOW. I'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS MY PET AND I'M JUST SHARING MY EXPERIENCE AND THOUGHTS. LISTEN TO YOUR VET OVER ME AND MY RAMBLINGS. I ADDED THESE THOUGHTS AS IT MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO SOMEONE, IN SOME WAY. YOU READ IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
** Video is for informational/educational purposes ONLY. Linking You Tube video is OK, but I own it. NO screen shots are to be taken and used/posted elsewhere unless my permission is granted. If you want to actually use the video on your site, blog, etc., ask first. **